Taking a peek under the bandage

Shane spent a few hours this afternoon tattooing me and I couldn’t resist taking a peek under the bandage to show you the work that was done on the robot. Next will be the partially ruined buildings, ground troops, and UFOs — with any luck fitting a session somewhere into November. Hopefully this is healed enough by the time we hit the beaches in the Cayman Islands. I’m sure it will be. The last few times I’ve been tattooed I haven’t gotten a scab or even much peeling. I don’t know if that’s a remarkable recommendation for Shane or if it has to do with the changes in my body. I don’t know if I like or dislike that it doesn’t really hurt much to get tattooed. I shouldn’t say that it doesn’t hurt, because it hurts plenty in a way, but it is so much less than the pain from walking or sculpting that it’s almost not worth noticing. In a way that’s nice and in a way it is horrifying because it gives an objective reference point (rather than the overused and reality-disconnected “rate your pain on a scale of 1 through 10, 1 being the least…”) that contextualizes with real world reference points exactly how unpleasant things are.

Other than that, I have some new ring designs that I want to get the molds started for (or finished) tomrrow, and I have some shipping to do (I’ve been staying on top of shipping jewelry, getting it out within the day in general), then I’ll go and cast my election vote early, I have to get a doctor’s letter for traveling with my medication, and… Let’s see… Other than that I’m very excitedly waiting for my 3D Printer/Router to come in the mail. I was one of the early crowd-funders on the Sumpod project so I’m quite eager now that it’s finally been shipped — it’s sort of like a much prettier RepRap. It can do dual head plastic printing (as in two color) and also has mounting for a Dremel so you can use it as a simple 3D milling machine. I’m looking forward to not just being able to create plastic objects, but also carve down wax for jewelry making.